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The Driftless Chestnut Network

The Driftless Chestnut Network (the DCN) is a new organizing and consulting project started by EFN co-founder, Dusty Hinz. The primary goal for the DCN is to get more people growing chestnuts in the Driftless region and to eventually build a regional chestnut industry. (Although we are also into hazelnut and hickory, and not limited to just the Driftless region.)

Dusty lived and worked at Badgersett Nut Tree Research Farm in SE Minnesota in 2018 where he learned about growing chestnut, hazelnut, and hickory under Philip Rutter. He has since gone on to plant several acres of chestnut at his family’s farm, also in SE Minnesota in the Driftless region (in Spring Grove).

Mark Hamann lived and worked at Badgersett for three years and now works for the University of Minnesota’s Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative. Together, Dusty and Mark have built upon and also refined Philip Rutter’s “high-density, hybrid swarm” nut tree planting and establishment methods which they learned at Badgersett.

With a decade of experience in nut tree agroforestry, a planting, establishment, and management system that is dialed in, and lots of practical lessons learned about what works and doesn’t work at his family’s farm over the last five years, Dusty is now making himself available to others out there who may want to plant some acres of chestnut (or hazel or hickory).

The short term goal of this project is to get more acres of nut trees planted. This could be in the Driftless region but could also be elsewhere in the Midwest and beyond. Dusty is particularly interested in seeing more chestnut planted, especially in the Driftless region, but is not bound by geography and has expertise in hazel and hickory too. To this end, he sees himself doing any number of these things for potential growers:

  • Working with growers to create a plan for planting, site visits, etc.
  • Sourcing the right seed or saplings from his various collaborators in the industry.
  • Having trees grown from seed by our nursery partner who we have been working with for years.
  • Being involved in the actual planting process, which can include using our tractor implements for field prep or bringing a team of workers to execute the planting.
  • Consulting and potential implementation on irrigation and fencing.
  • Ongoing consulting after the planting happens.

The longer term goals for this project include the possibility of building out processing infrastructure to aggregate and distribute regionally-grown chestnuts.

We encourage people to first plant 1-3 acres and see how it goes for a couple years, not biting off more than you can chew. This is also a manageable amount Dusty feels comfortable actually helping people plant in a given year.

Dusty has a lot of knowledge about growing chestnuts but has no experience actually working as a consultant or being hired to do someone else’s planting. The idea of the Driftless Chestnut Network is definitely evolving and a work in progress, and he will be learning as he goes. His time is very valuable so he will need to be compensated for it, but these details are still being worked out.

If you are interested in hiring Dusty to help you plant chestnuts or other nut trees, please contact him at: driftlesschestnutnetwork@gmail.com

Thanks!

We like nuts!